Back to School- Principal Episode

Thank you for listening to the Sage Studio podcast presented by Sage Oak Charter Schools and hosted by Tiffiny Webster, M.A.Ed.  We invite you to follow the show and leave your review below.  Sage Oak Charter Schools is an independent study nonclassroom based TK-12 personalized learning public charter school serving students in Southern California.  Visit sageoak.education for more information.

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Well, welcome to another episode of Sage Studio. I am thrilled to bring you this episode because we are heading back to school. It's such an exciting time of year and to kick us off with the new school year, we have our first guest, Chelsey Anema, the principal of the P L A Academy. Welcome Chelsey. Hello. Thank you so much for having me. So great to have you. And it's so fun to start thinking about going back to school. I know it's a super busy time for our families and for our staff, but we always like to hear about the new and exciting things that are happening in our programs. And just for our families that might be new listeners or new to Sage Oak introduce yourself again. Let them know kind of who you are and what your role is here at Sage Oak I'm Chelsey Anema. I'm the principal of the TK-8th Grade Personalized Learning Academy program, which is where our students do independent studies at home and they have a credential teacher that oversees them, helps support them and Is really is their right hand in all of their children's educational journey. And this is my third year as principal at Sage Oak and my ninth year with the school. So tell me about the new assistant principal that you've brought on board this year. Yes, KIley Duncan is going to be the assistant principal this year. She was one of our coordinators last year. She's been a regional mentor and a teacher. she's , has amazing leadership skills and she has really been instrumental in our Oak school program that we launched last year. And so I'm excited to be able to have her have more dedicated time to work on that as well as working alongside me a little bit closer. Okay, so talk to me about Oak School a little bit, because I know Kylie did an amazing job getting that program off the ground last year. It's been super successful. Tell our families what they can expect from Oak School and maybe actually for the ones that are new let them know what Oak School is. So Oak School is our live synchronous opportunity for our students. We have 15 oak school teachers and they are teaching a range of 65 different classes every single quarter. And so there's a lot of options and we're Keeping a lot of the same ones, but also bringing new ones. This year we're bringing in some more core classes. We have still a ton of different elective classes, like baking and writing classes and reading clubs We have new art teachers who are going to be teaching in-person and online a lot more art classes.'cause that's always popular in Oakville. And we're also expanding our in-person PE oak school class opportunities to a few different regions. So the Oak School classes, they really kind of check the boxes in helping students to explore their interests, and they also help to, you know, connect them to other students. tell me about some of the other ways that students can connect with other families or see their teachers in person throughout the year. We are going to continue our field trips, which are always very popular. We're going to bring back all the many different farms. I fly is always a big one. A lot of different museums. Whale watching's, always popular. We've added in a couple missions. And then we also have our socials, which have been a great success over the last few years. We have our back to school social, which is in the beginning of September, where students will be able to. See their teacher in person, get to play games, do crafts. We're going to have a lot of different community providers to be able to kind of showcase what they offer and provide some fun activities there. And we're also going to bring back our Living History and. Social fair and as always, our end of the year promotion social that we do in June on the last day of school. So good. I know that our families, that is really meaningful to them because sometimes when you're working independently, you feel a little bit of that isolation. And so getting a chance to connect either online through Oak school or in person through some of these field trips and socials, I know that that means a lot to our community. So I'm glad to see those things are going to continue Alright, it sounds like there are some great things happening for the 2023-2024 school year. So much to be excited about. Thank you so much Chelsey, for coming on today and giving us that quick update. Any other final words that you want to add before we close out? I'm just so thankful to be part of such a amazing, supportive school and that we get to offer a lot of different programs and support students who have a variety of different needs that need to be personalized and that's why we're here. So, excited to start the year as well. I love it. All right, well I hope you have a great school year. Great to talk to you as always. We'll see you soon, Chelsey. I am joined with our principal from the Virtual Learning Academy, Mrs. Lana Beshara. Lana, welcome to the show. Thank you so much for having me. your leadership team is expanding a little bit at the Virtual Learning Academy. Tell me a little bit about what's happening there. Last year we're able to bring on Mary Hizon- Barry, who was previously a teacher with our program and this year we're, we were able to add Carlene Mauer as an assistant principal as well. So our leadership team is expanding. Carlene comes to us from the special education department at our school, so she's previously an assistant director. She's got a lot of. Experience in general education as well as special education. And so she really brings a unique skillset to the team in terms of helping our students who have IEPs, helping our students who need intervention, working with students and parents in that respect. And so we're really excited to have her. I think that's going to be such an asset to to your students, to your families, to your teachers, just to have someone with that level of expertise, be able to support them and answer questions and, you know, just help them to maybe acclimate to a virtual learning environment if that's new for them. So, that is definitely going to be a big strength for your team. So for our families that may not know much about the Virtual Learning Academy, tell us a little bit about what V L A is. Yeah, so it's our third year in this program. We're very excited to have this part of Sage Oak. It's really like a school within a school. Students get live instruction Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and then they're able to have enrichment classes on Mondays and office hours with their teachers. And then we've got a whole bunch of field trips and socials, so it's, they're really not on the screen a lot. There's a lot of community building outside of class as students attend through Zoom Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. And who is providing the instruction? How does the instruction work in that virtual setting? Yeah, they've got their own classrooms, literally. the teachers provide that direct instruction. And then they also provide support after live class. So they have like support hours, they've got office hours and they're really there as, as a teacher, like you would have an unusual brick and mortar, but online. Now in addition to the live instruction that students are receiving from a teacher I know that they have some opportunities to learn on Mondays as well. Tell me a little bit about what the offerings are for Mondays for students. This is where being part of a larger school is really such a blessing because we're able to offer our students enrichment classes through Oakschool Our students are able to attend on Mondays because they don't have live class, live core instruction that day. And so in the mornings from 9 to 11, they can pick one or two classes that they can attend every week, and it's pure enrichment. And we provide all the materials and the supplies and they're able to attend with other P L A students and other V L A students. So it just, it's a really sweet way for them to get additional instruction and have fun and do things like Legos and Art and Music and all sorts of different things that the Oak school teachers are able to provide. I love that and I've seen the cutest little videos and screenshots of the students working together and it really is precious how they connect over Legos or an art project and they get into these little conversations and they love sharing what it is that they're working on with one another.. You know, within this virtual environment, you might think it would be isolating, but really you've done such an incredible job to build this virtual community. so they have the opportunity to connect in Oakschool and then in their actual classes, the teachers really emphasize collaboration. So they go into breakout rooms and work together. The students stay on and teachers oftentimes offer lunch bunch. So the students will eat lunch together online during recess or breaks. Students will oftentimes stay on and talk to each other and show each other their pets and toys So they build a community online and then offline we have socials and field trips. And so we are kicking off the year with beginning of the year social, the first week of school, which will be really fun, where they can connect with all their friends. And every single month we offer an all school field trips. So places like Pantages t o see Aladdin, Sea World. We're going to Medieval Times. We're doing a ton of just really fun and interesting things. And then in addition to that, every grade level itself goes on two field trips as well. So if we were to add all those up students have 12 opportunities throughout the year to connect with their friends that we've provided and that we facilitate. So it's very exciting and very fun. I know that that's really important to our Sage Oak families that they're able to get that instruction virtually, but they're also able to get that connection and to get the connection in a virtual environment and in person is just such a win-win. You know, it's easy to see why V L A is such a popular choice, So where can the V l A students find information about the field trips that are specific for V L A? So I send out a newsletter every week to all of our parents, and so they get all of that information and everything will be going live next week on our website. Perfect. So for students and parents that are interested in all of the things that are happening with Virtual Learning Academy, they should keep an eye out for your email newsletter Lana, it's so great to get this update from you and hear about the great things that are happening at V L A. I'd love to have you back on the podcast and continue to update us on all the great things you have going on. Thanks So much, Tiffiny. Such a pleasure. Always. All right. Thanks Lana. Appreciate you being here. Thank you. Now joining us on the podcast we have our high school principal, Ms. Traci King. Welcome to. Thank you, Tiffiny. I'm happy to be here. I love talking with you. I can't wait to dig into all the things that are going on with high school, but first I gotta stop for a minute and comment on the new backgrounds. Both Lana and Chelsey have the new backgrounds. In the Zoom, you have the new backgrounds. Tell me about the new backgrounds for this year. I'm loving them. Isn't it beautiful? I just love it too. These, these watercolors. So our theme for this year is "Nurturing Roots, Cultivating Excellence." So it is our ninth year open for Sage Oak. I can't believe that next year it's going to be a decade. It just unbelievable. It just went. So quickly and so "nurturing our roots" is going back to what makes us unique and what makes Sage Oak special. And "cultivating excellence" is in our personalization and everything that we bring to it. So that's our theme for next year, and I love it. Like you said, it's such a great symbol of sage oak and it's a good combination of both the artistic side of Sage Oak and then also too just those core values that Sage Oak continues to have too. So well done media team on the background. I'm hearing that. I couldn't agree more. It couldn't more so good. Okay, so for our listeners that are new maybe to Sage Oak or maybe new to high school, tell us a little bit about who you are and what you do in the high school department. Oh, certainly. So, I'm Traci King and I'm the high school principal, and I've been the high school principal for several years now. I start to lose count and, I just feel so lucky to be able to be in this position and to be able to build our high school program based on the needs of our students. So we're very flexible in what we look like year to year based on the student population that we have. I also come from working in the high school department, so I have firsthand experience just seeing how it continues to grow and evolve. And I know the innovation is something that it really matters to you and really matters to the whole department. Always trying to come up with new ways to reach the students where they are as their needs shift and as new opportunities arise for them. So, I love that the high school does continue to grow in that way. And not only are you growing in the programs that you're offering, but I know you're growing in your structure and your staff as well. So tell me a little bit about some of the new leadership additions and then we'll get into some of the new programs. Sure, of course. Yeah. So this year we have two new aps in high school, I couldn't be more fortunate. First we have Kerrie Cody, who brings just a wealth of experience. She was a principal at a middle school, and she was an AVID coordinator. And then we also have Laura Glaviano and she comes from high school. Her background, she was a ASB director and she's done a lot of the administrative duties in there. She was also in the enrollment side of a college. So we get that aspect too, like what are colleges looking for? So she brings a unique aspect to high school as well. Those sound like great fit for the high school program and that they're really going to be able to bring a lot of expertise to the program as well. I know that the college component and getting students ready and prepared for college is such an important part about what you do. I. That includes continuing to bolster the course offering so that students can be prepared for all different kinds of pathways. So, tell me about some of the AP offerings and even some of the C T e, those career technical pathways that you're offering students. So, So we are offering a couple of AP classes this year from our own teachers, and this is the first year that we're, that we're able to do this. So we have our AP computer science class and we are looking to build a C T E pathway with computer science and coding and gaming. We are starting our gaming club this year. It'll eventually be in a, class where we can compete for that. And as you know, there's a lot of colleges now that give scholarships mm-hmm. For the eSports and for gaming. So I think that, we'll, we'll have some pretty excited students and we're also going to have a AP art class, so that will complete our CTE pathway for our Arts academy. And speaking of our C T E pathway, we are offering a new one this year. So our Sports Medicine/ Athletic Trainer, we're having that pathway as well as expanding on our Child Development pathway. Three in the works and, and one that is building up for next year. So we're, we're looking forward to those classes. Yeah, that's really exciting. And I know that the students like them too because it offers them truly not only a chance to learn the subject matter, but get some insight into what a career might look like in that field. In addition to that, a lot of our students I know enjoy taking classes at the community college level while they're still in high school. I'm a big fan of that type of program and that type of learning. There's so many, upsides to the students in doing so. And I hear we have a new partnership with a community college, so tell me more. We do, we have one with Crafton Hills Community College. So having the partnership is, It's really unique because they will have just our Sage Oak students in the college class, so Oh wow. That's really unique. Yes. we have five classes set aside specifically for our Sage Oak students. So they could be in a college class with all of their peers. So we're looking at classes such as our ASL our. English 1 0 1, US History, Econ and a College and Career class. So we're starting out with those. Are they virtual classes or will students attend live on campus? They'll be virtual. Okay. And two of them will be synchronous and the rest will be asynchronous. Oh, that's so great. So students in all regions can, can take advantage of that. It's a really nice way to bridge the opportunity as you mentioned, they can, be with other Sage Oak students, be with high school students, but start working towards that college content and earning those college credits. So win-win. Love that. Okay, so aside from all the academic things that you have going on and all the new programs that you've brought to Sage Oak, I know that high school community still remains of paramount importance to the program and that you really do go to great lengths to build on the Sage Oak community and the opportunity for them to get together virtually and in person. So tell me what you got going on this year as far as that goes. Yes. And you know, this is my favorite part too. I love talking about the opportunities that students have to come together. And it's, it's really unique when we're in this virtual environment that we have such a strong community of our high school students and it's based on them coming together and. Them also planning what interests them. So our students are really the power behind all of this in deciding what they want to do. So we start off the year with our seniors. We're so excited for our seniors, and we have a senior sunrise, and we have that down at the beach, but. We don't want to leave out anybody. So a few days later we have our welcome back Beach party and Oh, fun. That is a big hit. We're also doing some overnight trips this year. We have a leadership one, so this is attended by anybody who is interested in our leadership, our ambassadors, our ASB council, and we have that up in Pali. We have our marine science that's overnight for two nights and three days in Catalina. We also have our one day trip. It's a long day, but it's one day of our civic engagement up in Sacramento. And then we have our US History college tours and museums in Washington, DC and of course we have our , our grad night and our senior sunset. So we really, really do celebrate our seniors. It's a huge accomplishment, not just for the students, but for their whole families as well. So we put a lot of a special attention on our graduates. I love that and I know they all love graduation and you guys go to great lengths to make it so special. So definitely that's always a big highlight of the year, but it sounds like there is a lot to look forward to all year long. A lot of offerings for students, which is great. When we close out here, I'm going to put a link in the show notes to our website so that if you want to find out more about all the different offerings that are happening in high school this year, you'll be able to go to the Sge Oak website and check that out. So, so many good things. Traci. I definitely would love to have you back. I think we're planning on doing a podcast episode coming up here to really dive deep into the C T E programs and all of those program expansions this year. So I'm looking forward to that. But I'm excited to hear about all these new things that are happening in the high school. So thanks so much for sharing with us today. Oh, you're welcome. Thank you for letting me come in here and brag about high school, which I love, love to do always. Anytime. All right. Good to chat with you, Traci. Have a great school year. Thank you so much. Thanks, Tiffiny thanks. Bye-Bye.